the Asiliupe of Australasia. 437 



Legs blacky the base of all femora and tibiae rusty yellow. 

 i^«ce with white tomentura; the moustache blacky with some 

 white hairs below. Wings hyaline, but broadly and distinctly 

 tinged with grey round the whole border. 5 lines. 

 Schiner records four pair from Sydney. 



Neoaratus, Ricardo. 



Aratus, v. d. Wuhi, Termes. Fiizetek, xxi. p. 236 (1898) (prteocc. 

 Howard, Hym. 1896). 



This genus was formed for Asilus hercules, Wied., by 

 V. d. Wulp, who satisfied himself as to the probability of 

 the correctness of the three synonyms (see below) ; he also 

 suggested that Rhadiurgus macquarti, Bigot, and Asilus 

 tasmani(S, Macq., might belong to this genus, which he 

 characterized as follows : — 



Face moderately broad, with prominent tubercle, which, 

 with the thick moustache, takes up two-thirds of the face. 

 AntenncB small in proportion, the two basal joints same 

 length ; the third rather shorter than the two together, 

 pointed at end, with a naked arista. Thorax short-haired, 

 only posteriorly with some long hairs, but without bristles. 

 Abdomen fine-haired, slender, no bristles at sides; eighth 

 segment hidden (correct only of cJ ) ; genital organs small ; 

 ovipositor egg-shaped, with two small lamellae at end. Legs 

 stout, femora not incrassate. Wings shorter than body, in 

 the male dilated on the fore border; the submarginal cell 

 rilled in both sexes ; the discal cell long and narrow, the 

 upper vein from it very much bent outwards, so that the 

 second very broad posterior cell bulges very considerably 

 into the first one ; the fourth is closed, also the anal cell. 



This last character is common to the large species of 

 Asilus, such as rufiventris, rufithorax, pelago, hyagnis, and 

 the submarginal cell is frequently rilled in them, and even 

 the fore border of wing very slightly dilated, so that it 

 appears as if the very great dilatation of wing on fore border 

 in Neoaratus hercules is the only character that divides it 

 off from Asilus in sensu stricto, and it remains the only 

 species in the genus. Rhadiurgus macquarti is a male from 

 New Caledonia ; Bigot makes no mention in his description 

 of the wing being dilated ; without seeing his tyjie it is 

 impossible to decide whether he placed it in the right 

 genus. 



Neoaratus hercules, Wied., Auss. zweifl. Ins. i. p. 42o \_Asilus'\ (1830). 

 Type of geuus. — Asilus plicatus, Wied., /. c. ii. p. 643"' (1830) ; 

 Froggatt, Australian Insects, p. 299 (1907). Asibis giganteus, Macq., 

 Dipt. Exot. Suppl. ii. p. 59, pi. i. lig. 9 (1847). Asilus grandis, 

 Macq. /. c. Suppl. iii. p. 190, pi. iii. fig. 4 (1848). 



